Julia Grogan’s Playfight is a raw, energetic exploration of female friendship, growing pains, and the blurred lines between consent and coercion. Set over a ten-year span, it follows three girls—Kiera (Sophie Cox), Lucy (Lucy Mangan), and Zainab (Nina Cassells) — through the chaotic highs and lows of adolescent years, first sexual experiences, and the pressure of finding an identity in a disapproving world.
At its core, Playfight is a story about how we try to understand ourselves through the eyes of people we grow up with—and how easily that understanding can break. The three actors at the heart of the play are a pleasure to watch as they each deliver distinct performances yet their strong chemistry brings powerful emotions that easily reach the audience. Sophie Cox gives Kiera a carefree and captivating profile — bold, unfiltered, and funny, but there is serious pain and self-doubt beneath the surface. Lucy Mangan is the frothy and pensive Lucy, who may be suppressing something more complex under her Christian ‘good girl’ personality. Then, there is Zainab, Nina Cassells’s sharp and attractive character who is highly intelligent yet guarded and who slowly works out and confronts with her feelings for her friend.
At the heart of the story there is also the ‘tree’. Courtesy of Hazel Low’s set design it shown on stage as a pink ladder, the girls’ favourite hangout, and also a powerful symbol of a witness that is intimately part of their growing up, the passing of time and the safety of friendship and its many shared stories.
What makes Playfight exceptional is its refusal to offer clear answers. Grogan’s writing explores themes of consent, desire, and power dynamics with a startling honesty, never spoon-feeding moral conclusions. Instead, it leaves the audience pondering — where is the line between play and harm? Between love and control?
Yes, the play moves too fast at times and lines are delivered too quick but that brings home the point of what being young and curious is about — everything feels urgent, fleeting, and impossible to keep up with.
Playfight at Soho Theatre is a young person’s (16 and over) must-see: bold, uncompromising, and haunting. A compelling thought-provoking piece that lingers in the mind long after the lights go down.
Playfight is at Soho Theatre until 25 April. Tickets from £13. Full information and booking available on the website.
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